“I actually want to talk to you about something personal.” He led Reid to his office, where Finn was stretched across his dog bed, wagging his tail.

Reid bent to pat his side.

Colbert closed the door. “Have a seat.”

Raising one eyebrow, she lifted her hands. “Where?” The sofa was covered with blankets and both chairs were piled high with books.

“Sorry.” He grabbed the books off one chair, setting them on the floor.

“Be careful you don’t hurt yourself,” she said, taking a seat on the now-empty chair.

“I’m healed.” As if to prove it, he touched his stomach where the wound had been.

“Care to tell me how that happened?”

“Not really.” Sighing, he plunked onto his desk chair. “It was stupid of me.” He drummed his fingers on the wooden surface. “Tell you what, I’ll answer your question if you answer mine.”

She studied him, trying to decide if it was worth it. “Deal.”

“The incident happened on your first night here in the palace. While Dexter was escorting you here, I was monitoring a group of men who’d arrived a few weeks prior via a ship off our eastern coast.”

“Men from Melenia?”

“I believe so.”

“Why did you let them into Axian?”

“I wanted to see where the twenty-five men intended to go, so I had them followed. They’d been steadily traveling west toward the palace. When the group started to head north, the soldier I’d tasked with following them reported that one fell ill, so three were staying behind at an inn. That night, when Dexter arrived with you, I made the mistake of telling him this. Since the inn was only two hours east of here, he wanted to go see for himself. Even though it was the middle of the night, we jumped on horses and rode straight there. We found one man sick in bed, the other two drinking in the tavern. Dex approached the two in the tavern, trying to strike up a conversation. The foreigners had thick accents.”

Colbert folded his hands together on top of the desk. “Dexter demanded to know why they were there. He pulled out a knife, pointing it at them. The ill man chose that moment to come downstairs. He saw the knife aimed at his friends, so he withdrew his own dagger and threw it. Dex never saw it coming. I jumped in front of the dagger.”

“You could have been killed.” Although Reid would have done the same thing for one of her sisters.

“I know. It was stupid. But all I could think about was that Axian needed Dex more than it needed me. I managed to turn just as the dagger hit me. It slid across my ribs instead of lodging in my flesh.”

“You’re one lucky man.”

“I know.”

“What happened to the foreigners?” She assumed Dexter would have done as Ackley would and slaughtered them.